Introduction: A Chapter of Tranquility, Abundance and Wisdom
Chapter 5 in Melachim A is a chapter of description: a description of Shlomo's greatness, the greatness of his kingdom, the greatness of his table, and the greatness of his wisdom. The chapter opens with his rule from one end of the world to the other, continues with the king's table and the stables of his horses, and reaches its climax with Shlomo's wisdom, which is a divine, supernatural wisdom. We will proceed according to the order of the pesukim in light of the Malbim's explanations, and add to them the words of Chazal and the Midrashim.
The King's Table According to the Greatness of the Kingdom
וּשְׁלֹמֹה הָיָה מוֹשֵׁל בְּכָל־הַמַּמְלָכוֹת מִן־הַנָּהָר אֶרֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּים וְעַד גְּבוּל מִצְרָיִם מַגִּשִׁים מִנְחָה וְעֹבְדִים אֶת־שְׁלֹמֹה כָּל־יְמֵי חַיָּיו - And Shlomo ruled over all the kingdoms from the River, the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Shlomo all the days of his life.
This pasuk is an introduction. The verse wants us to understand: Shlomo had to enlarge his table in accordance with the greatness of his kingdom and the precious splendor of his majesty. The king's table grew according to the greatness of his kingdom. One who rules over some small island, a modest dining table suffices for him. But one who rules over all the kingdoms needs a table that can accommodate all the people who come to take shelter in his shadow. Therefore, before we hear about the enormous quantities of food, the verse first tells us about the scope of the kingdom, so that we will not wonder how it could be that they needed so much food.
And furthermore: all these nations "brought tribute," meaning they paid taxes and offerings to Shlomo, as part of the non-aggression agreement he had with them. So beyond the taxes that the governors raised for him from within the land, all these nations too paid him taxes.
וַיְהִי לֶחֶם־שְׁלֹמֹה לְיוֹם אֶחָד שְׁלֹשִׁים כֹּר סֹלֶת וְשִׁשִּׁים כֹּר קָמַח - And Shlomo's provision for one day was thirty kor of fine flour and sixty kor of meal.
Thirty kor of fine flour are seven and a half tons, and sixty kor of meal are fifteen tons. Fifteen tons of meal plus seven and a half tons of fine flour, for a single day. And this is not yet everything, this is only the bread.
עֲשָׂרָה בָקָר בְּרִאִים וְעֶשְׂרִים בָּקָר רְעִי וּמֵאָה צֹאן לְבַד מֵאַיָּל וּצְבִי וְיַחְמוּר וּבַרְבֻּרִים אֲבוּסִים - Ten fat oxen and twenty pasture oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and gazelle and roebuck and fattened fowl.
A most distinguished menu. "Fat" means fattened. "Pasture oxen" are those that graze in the meadow and do not perform labor, since an ox that performs labor develops muscles and is not tasty to eat, and therefore they specifically take those grazing in the meadow. And beyond that: deer, gazelle and roebuck. And what are "fattened fowl"? Some of our Sages say the intent is fattened chickens, and so Rashi brings. And Chazal say it refers to a bird that comes from Barbaria. Barbaria is the name of a place, and from there comes the expression that a person who does not behave with proper conduct is called "barbari," because there were the barbarians there, people who were not especially well-mannered, but their fowl were fat. And this is what we sing on Shabbat: "fattened fowl and quail and fish," after that which they used to eat at Shlomo's table.
From Tifsach to Aza: Rule from One End of the World to the Other
כִּי־הוּא רֹדֶה בְּכָל־עֵבֶר הַנָּהָר מִתִּפְסַח וְעַד־עַזָּה בְּכָל־מַלְכֵי עֵבֶר הַנָּהָר וְשָׁלוֹם הָיָה לוֹ מִכָּל־עֲבָרָיו מִסָּבִיב - For he had dominion over all the region beyond the River, from Tifsach up to Aza, over all the kings beyond the River; and he had peace on all sides around him.
Why did he need so much? Because he ruled over the entire region beyond the river, from Tifsach to Gaza, and consequently many people came to be supported at his table. There is an opinion among Chazal that sixty thousand men ate regularly at his table, meaning those sustained by the royal palace. This does not refer to one literal table, but to all those attached to the king's household. Once we understand this, we understand that these enormous quantities were genuinely needed.
And what are "Tifsach and Gaza"? Chazal say that Shlomo ruled over the entire world. Some say: Tifsach at the end of the world and Gaza at the end of the world, and he ruled from one end of the world to the other. And there is another opinion: Tifsach and Gaza were adjacent to each other, and just as he ruled over Tifsach and Gaza, so he ruled over the entire world. On the face of it there is a dispute here about reality: were they at two ends of the world or adjacent to one another?
But for one who knows that the world is round there is no difficulty at all. In truth they are adjacent to each other, and on the one hand you can say they are one beside the other, and on the other hand that one is at the end of the world and the other at the end of the world, for if you make a complete circuit, you leave one city, encircle the entire globe, and arrive at the city beside it. They did not disagree about the reality that Tifsach and Gaza are adjacent, but about the manner of derivation: whether just as he ruled over two adjacent towns so he ruled over the entire world, or whether their adjacency comes to hint that from this city you would encircle the entire globe and reach the city beside it, and thus he ruled over the entire world. Either way: absolute rule over all the cities in the entire world.
"Rodeh" - a power that need not be exercised
Let us note the wording: here it is written "rodeh" (dominating), while at the outset it was written "moshel" (ruling). "Rodeh" means with a strong hand, from the root radah, rule by force. And it is explained to us that this domination did not stem from his actually going out and conquering, but from Shlomo having great and mighty power, everyone feared him and everyone submitted before him. And through this very fact "he had peace on all his sides round about": a hand that you cannot break, you press it and you caress it. Therefore Scripture prefaces and informs us that everyone was at peace with him, so that we will later understand the count of the horses, which is what explained to the nations why it was not worthwhile to tangle with him.
וַיֵּשֶׁב יְהוּדָה וְיִשְׂרָאֵל לָבֶטַח אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וְתַחַת תְּאֵנָתוֹ מִדָּן וְעַד־בְּאֵר שָׁבַע כֹּל יְמֵי שְׁלֹמֹה - And Yehudah and Yisrael dwelt safely, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beer Sheva, all the days of Shlomo.
Everyone dwelt safely, because they did not need to go out to wars, and no enemy's foot from outside entered within. In wartime a person is afraid to sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and not only out of fear that something might fall on him, but because it is an exposed place, and he goes and shuts himself behind doors and bolt. Here there was such abundance and such peace, without fear and without dread of any person, that a man could dwell under the vine and the fig tree without any dread or fear.
Forty thousand horse stalls
וַיְהִי לִשְׁלֹמֹה אַרְבָּעִים אֶלֶף אֻרְוֺת סוּסִים לְמֶרְכָּבוֹ וּשְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר אֶלֶף פָּרָשִׁים - And Shlomo had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
Here we have a contradiction, for in Divrei HaYamim it is written four thousand. Chazal address the contradiction and resolve it: either there were forty thousand stalls and in each one four thousand stables, or there were four thousand stalls and in each one forty thousand stables. Stables are places for a horse to enter, a stall for a horse. According to this reckoning it comes out that Shlomo had a total of a hundred and sixty million horses, for whether four thousand times forty thousand or forty thousand times four thousand, the result is the same.
The Malbim explains in another way: he had forty thousand and also four thousand, two separate counts. Forty thousand stalls in which horses were raised for war, and by contrast four thousand for his private use. And therefore, the Malbim emphasizes, in the place where four thousand are mentioned it is written "and he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Yerushalayim," there Scripture mentions the wealth of the king, how much he had for his private use, and four thousand horses for private use are a great many. And here Scripture mentions to us how he succeeded in maintaining the kingdom and ruling over all the nations, for they knew he had so many horses, and it was dangerous to become entangled with him. If we wish to give a modern parable, it is like saying how many tanks he has: it implies that he can bring more and more into the campaign, and the campaign would not end and he would win in every situation. Therefore "he dominated all the region beyond the river, from Tifsach to Gaza": because he had such mighty power, he never needed to exercise it, for the knowledge of his power cast dread upon everyone. And this was Shlomo's wisdom in that he accumulated so much.
But this wisdom became his undoing. For how many horsemen did he have for the horses? Only twelve thousand. And if you have twelve thousand horsemen, why do you maintain forty thousand horse stalls? Chazal ask: "He shall not multiply horses for himself," what is the definition of "multiply"? Is ten a lot? A hundred? A million? And Chazal say: "He shall not multiply horses for himself" - that there should not be idle horses. An idle horse is a horse that has no rider, one you do not need. If a person keeps another hundred or two hundred reserve horses in case a horse dies in war, that is fine. But to keep, beyond all measure, idle horses for which you have no horsemen to assign to them, for this Shlomo was held accountable regarding the commandment of "he shall not multiply horses for himself," as we will see further on.
The officers and the work of provision
וְכִלְכְּלוּ הַנִּצָּבִים הָאֵלֶּה אֶת־הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה וְאֵת כָּל־הַקָּרֵב אֶל־שֻׁלְחַן הַמֶּלֶךְ־שְׁלֹמֹה אִישׁ חָדְשׁוֹ לֹא יְעַדְּרוּ דָּבָר - And these officers provided for King Shlomo and for all who came to King Shlomo's table, each in his month; they lacked nothing.
The officers provided not only for Shlomo himself, but also for "all who came to the king's table." For there were very many people who served Shlomo, and many kings who were attached beneath him, since Shlomo ruled over all. Consequently his table was great and vast, and the officers took care to obtain everything that was required and needed, whether needed for Shlomo himself or needed for the horses. So many horses had to be fed: this is not a tank, which, if it is not in use, consumes nothing and requires little maintenance. A horse, whether it works or not, eats every single day. Therefore, in each and every month, "they lacked nothing," not letting anything be missing.
וְהַשְּׂעֹרִים וְהַתֶּבֶן לַסּוּסִים וְלָרָכֶשׁ יָבִאוּ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה־שָּׁם אִישׁ כְּמִשְׁפָּטוֹ - And the barley and the straw for the horses and the swift steeds they brought to the place where each man was, according to his charge.
The barley and the straw that were needed for the horses and the swift steeds. And what is the rechesh? Some say it is a kind of animal, and some say they are mules born of the mares, as in the verse "the riders of the swift steeds, the mules bred of the royal stud." And each one did according to his charge.
Wisdom, understanding, and breadth of heart
וַיִּתֵּן אֱלֹהִים חָכְמָה לִשְׁלֹמֹה וּתְבוּנָה הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד וְרֹחַב לֵב כַּחוֹל אֲשֶׁר עַל־שְׂפַת הַיָּם - And God gave Shlomo wisdom and very great understanding, and breadth of heart like the sand that is on the seashore.
What is the difference between wisdom and understanding? The Malbim says: wisdom is the wisdom of governance, and included in it are all the good character traits. If I want to say that a person has the trait of humility, the trait of modesty, the trait of generosity of heart, and the like, all these are included under "wisdom," the wisdom of character. Understanding, by contrast, applies to knowledge in which there is truth and falsehood. For example, if a person knows that two plus two are four and not five, I do not say that he has good character traits, but that he knows what the truth is. And if someone were to say that it is five, I would not say that this is a bad trait but that it is false. Thus, with regard to knowledge the concept of understanding applies, and with regard to governance, how to lead the nation properly and with the correct measure, the concept of wisdom applies. And in Shlomo both were present.
And what is breadth of heart? Even if I have understanding, if I do not have enough breadth of heart I will not be able to contain all that understanding. If we want an example from the world of computers: he has a "disk" of great capacity into which he can enter all the knowledge. For the pieces of knowledge and the details are so many that, if you do not have a heart broad enough, you will not be able to contain them all, to know all the details and to remember them in all their particulars. For this one needs great breadth of heart. Shlomo had immense breadth of heart to know all the details of the various types of wisdom and knowledge, which are things that have no end. And about this the verse comes and says: Shlomo sustained the people and led them through his great wisdom and understanding and breadth of heart, which were like the sand on the seashore in their vast size and power.
"Like the sand on the seashore" - wisdom as a barrier
And there is a further explanation the Sages give: why specifically "the sand that is on the seashore," and not sand in general? Rather, just as the sand is a barrier to the sea, so was wisdom a barrier for Shlomo. What held Shlomo back from breaking through all boundaries? His great wisdom. For Shlomo had absolute rule, and a person who has absolute rule very easily comes to break through all boundaries: he rules over everything and all are in his hand. Go and learn what came of Nevuchadnetzar, who ruled over all, and of other wicked and tyrannical kings whose rule drove them out of their own minds and out of the mind of their Creator and brought them to the most terrible and dreadful things. And what stopped Shlomo? The great wisdom that God gave him, just as the sand stops the sea from breaking through.
And indeed with Shlomo we saw that that very wisdom brought upon him an error, and one cannot say that it did not help him. Shlomo's failure, which we will study further on, was relatively speaking an error in understanding the mitzvot of the Torah, an error that stemmed from his wisdom, but in any case he did not come to grave transgressions.
The wisdom of the people of the East and the wisdom of Egypt
וַתֵּרֶב חָכְמַת שְׁלֹמֹה מֵחָכְמַת כָּל־בְּנֵי־קֶדֶם וּמִכֹּל חָכְמַת מִצְרָיִם - And Shlomo's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.
In Midrash Rabbah on Kohelet they ask: what was the wisdom of the people of the East? They knew the constellations, they practiced divination through birds, and they were expert in "tayir", that is, expert in the language of birds (tayir in Arabic, like "tayara"), knowing the speech of the birds.
And what was the wisdom of Egypt? The Midrash says: you find that when Shlomo wished to build the Beit HaMikdash, he sent to Pharaoh Necho and said to him: send me craftsmen for wages, for I wish to build the Beit HaMikdash, and I will pay their wages. What did Pharaoh do? He gathered all his astrologers, and they gazed and saw men who were destined to die that year, and those he sent to him. He assembled all the experts and said to them: tell me who is about to die this year. He made a whole detachment of them and sent word to Shlomo: here, take craftsmen. When they came to Shlomo, he perceived through ruach hakodesh that they were destined to die that year, and he gave them shrouds and sent them back. He said to him: if you had no shrouds for these dead of yours, here they are together with their shrouds, go and bury them. In other words: what are you trying to do, make a fool of me? You send me people, have you turned the Land of Israel into a cemetery? You have no shrouds? Here, take them, you bury them yourself, that I should also busy myself with their burial?
"And he was wiser than all men"
וַיֶּחְכַּם מִכָּל־הָאָדָם מֵאֵיתָן הָאֶזְרָחִי וְהֵימָן וְכַלְכֹּל וְדַרְדַּע בְּנֵי מָחוֹל וַיְהִי־שְׁמוֹ בְכָל־הַגּוֹיִם סָבִיב - And he was wiser than all men, than Eitan the Ezrachi, and Heman, and Kalkol, and Darda, the sons of Machol, and his name was in all the nations round about.
"Than all men" - Chazal say: Adam HaRishon. And what was the wisdom of Adam HaRishon? When the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to create man, He took counsel with the ministering angels and said to them, "Let us make man." They said before Him: Master of the Universe, "what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You take note of him." He said to them: the man I wish to create, his wisdom is greater than yours. And where do we see this? That after Adam HaRishon was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered every beast, animal, and bird and set them before the angels and said to them: give them names. They stood there and did not know. He went to Adam and said to him: what are the names of these? He said: Master of the Universe, this one is fittingly called an ox, and this one a lion, and this one a horse, and this one a camel, and this one an eagle, and so all of them, each and every one according to its name.
See how much wisdom there is in the names. The lion (aryeh) instills dread, and the letters of aryeh are the letters of yirah (dread). The horse is the only living creature that is entirely joyous and glad; look at its walk and its run, all of them expressing joy, and even the sound it makes is called a neigh (tzahalah): it is entirely rejoicing, joyous and glad. The camel (gamal), because it is able to be weaned (nigmal) from drinking for long days and weeks; they give it drink once and it suffices for a long time. The ant (nemalah) is called so because it "molah," it cuts the little sprout that begins to emerge from the wheat kernel, and thus, says the Gemara, the wheat does not develop and it can store its grains in the enormous storehouses it makes beneath the ground. Likewise the donkey (chamor) is called so because it is entirely matter (chomer), and the cat (chatul) because it swaddles (mitchatel) and covers its excrement, from the word for diaper (chitul). And there are many more examples, that it takes great wisdom to know what the names of the animals are. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: behold, Adam HaRishon knows, and you, the angels, do not know.
He said to him: and you, what is your name? He said before Him: Adam, because I was created from the earth (adamah). He said to him: and I, what is My name? What will you call Me? He said before Him: Adnut (Lordship), because You are Master (Adon) over all Your creatures. And this is what is said, "I am Hashem, that is My name": that is My name that Adam HaRishon called Me, that is My name that I stipulated between Myself and Myself, that is My name that I stipulated between Myself and My creatures and the ministering angels. That is, Adam HaRishon knew how to arrive at the very name that God, as it were, had called Himself.
"Than Eitan the Ezrachi" - this is Avraham, as it says "a maskil of Eitan the Ezrachi," for he was steadfast (eitan) against all the nations and all the ideas and conceptions accepted in his time, and he fought against all of them. "Heman" - this is Moshe, as it says "in all My house he is faithful (ne'eman)," and just as one says of a trustworthy person that he is faithful (mehiman). "And Kalkol" - this is Yosef, as it is written "and Yosef sustained (vayechalkel)." The Egyptians said: did this slave rule over us except through his wisdom? They took seventy notes and would cast them before him, and he would read each and every one in its own language. Moreover, he spoke in the Holy Tongue, which they did not know or recognize and could not understand, as it says "a testimony He set in Yehosef." "And Darda" - this is the generation of the wilderness, the generation of knowledge (dor de'ah), and Shlomo was wiser than all of them. "The sons of Machol" - that generation to whom God forgave (machal) the sin of the Golden Calf. "And his name was in all the nations round about" - that through his wisdom his name became famous among all the nations round about.
Let us also mention what Rashi adds: Eitan and Heman and Kalkol and Darda were brothers, sons of Zerach son of Yehudah, as it is written "and the sons of Zerach: Zimri and Eitan." They were very wise men, among the renowned of their time, and about them Scripture says that Shlomo was wiser than they. And "the sons of Machol" - that they knew how to compose songs, as in the expression "with dances (bimcholot)," a song that the Levites would sing upon the platform.
Wisdom by way of a miracle: from the earlier to the later
The Malbim explains, following the Abarbanel, that Shlomo's wisdom was unlike the wisdom of all other people: his wisdom came about by way of a miracle, and he grasped everything from the cause to the effect through sudden knowledge rather than gradual knowledge, not through sensory perception attained with toil and effort and much time and many preliminary premises.
Let me explain the principle. When a person wants to gain knowledge about something that happened yesterday, or a month ago, or a thousand years ago, his way of gaining that knowledge is from the later to the earlier. This is essentially what scientists do today: one wants to know what once was, so he says let us see what exists today, and on that basis I determine what was in the past. Let us measure the length of the stalactite in the cave, and according to its length we will determine that it is so and so many millions of years old. And where is the error? That today it grows a millimeter a year, but back then, when there was a stream flowing above, it grew a meter a year. Such wisdom, which draws conclusions from the later to the earlier, is subject to error. Shlomo's wisdom was not subject to error, because he would deduce from the earlier to the later: he knew in advance how the thing came to be, and from that he understood everything that followed, and not the reverse. And this is a wisdom that a person cannot naturally attain, but rather a divine, supernatural wisdom, which no person before him had possessed.
"He spoke three thousand proverbs" - the plain meaning and the derived meaning
וַיְדַבֵּר שְׁלֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים מָשָׁל וַיְהִי שִׁירוֹ חֲמִשָּׁה וָאָלֶף - He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.
I usually bring this verse as an example of how many people forget the plain meaning and remember the derived meaning. Ask a person what "עם לבן גרתי" means, and he will immediately tell you "I kept the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot." But Rashi says that this is its derived interpretation, and what is its plain meaning? "I dwelt as a stranger and did not become a prince or an important person." And yet everyone remembers the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot. So too here.
The midrash here is well known: that on every verse he would say three thousand parables, and on every parable he would give one thousand and five explanations. But what is the plain meaning? Rashi says: "three thousand proverbs" means three collections of teachings of proverbs. For "אלף" is a term of teaching: "אאלפך חכמה" (I will teach you wisdom), "אאלפך בינה" (I will teach you understanding), "מאלף" from the term to teach. So too regarding Yaakov, who was "a wholesome man dwelling in tents," the Targum renders "תבע אולפן," and an ulpan is a place where one engages in Torah, from the term to learn, from the term to teach. If so, "he spoke three thousand proverbs" means three collections of teachings of proverbs. And which are they? Three times it is written in the book of Mishlei "the proverbs of Shlomo," and there you have three collections of teachings of proverbs. "And his songs were five" - these three in Mishlei plus two more, Shir HaShirim and Kohelet, for a total of five. "And a thousand" - that in each and every one of them there is enough to teach and instruct wisdom and understanding. The meaning is not one thousand and five, but rather five that contain enough to teach and instruct wisdom. Such is the plain meaning of the verse according to Rashi.
The Malbim brings an explanation in the same direction but in a different form: "and his songs were five and a thousand" - this is Shir HaShirim, which is divided into five songs, and the last song begins "we have a little sister," and in it is written "a man would bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver," "the thousand is yours, Shlomo." There you have five songs plus the final stanza that mentions the matter of the thousand, and this is "five and a thousand."
And the Radak explains according to the midrash, that these are thousands in their literal sense, one thousand, two thousand, and three thousand proverbs. And if so, where are they? We are familiar with Shir HaShirim, Kohelet and Mishlei, but where are the three thousand? The Radak says: they are not in our possession. So too "and his songs were five and a thousand," where are these songs? They are not in our possession, because many books were lost to Israel in their exile. So too that which he composed regarding the natural sciences, as we shall see in the coming verses: he composed great bodies of wisdom and great books in them, and they were lost to us.
"He spoke about the trees" - the nature of creation
וַיְדַבֵּר עַל־הָעֵצִים מִן־הָאֶרֶז אֲשֶׁר בַּלְּבָנוֹן וְעַד הָאֵזוֹב אֲשֶׁר יֹצֵא בַּקִּיר וַיְדַבֵּר עַל־הַבְּהֵמָה וְעַל־הָעוֹף וְעַל־הָרֶמֶשׂ וְעַל־הַדָּגִים - He spoke about the trees, from the cedar that is in the Levanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall, and he spoke about the animals, the birds, the creeping things, and the fish.
Here we have another verse whose derived interpretation people know while they do not know its plain meaning. Ask a person what the plain meaning of the verse is, and he will tell you that Shlomo knew the language of the animals, the language of the beasts, the birds, the fish, and also the language of the trees, the conversation of palm trees, as the Gemara brings. And this is true, but it is the derived interpretation.
And what is the plain meaning of the verse? Rashi says: the medicinal properties of each and every one. "About the trees" - that he would say: this tree has such and such a cure, from this tree one can extract such and such, this tree is excellent for building in dry places and that tree in damp places, this soil is excellent for planting a certain tree and that soil is suitable only for other crops. This is "he spoke about the trees": the trees and their natures and what is special about each and every one. So too regarding the animal: what its cure is, what its yields are, what its foods are, what the flesh of this animal is beneficial for, what benefit there is in this part of its flesh, why it is good and why it is not good. So too about the bird and the creeping thing and the fish: about each and every one of them he spoke, expounded, taught, investigated and understood. And these teachings, as the Radak says, were also lost to us.
The Midrashim on "He spoke about the trees"
There is a midrash aggadah: What did the metzora see fit that he should be purified through the highest of the high and the lowest of the low? The midrash explains "from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall" based on the place where we find cedar and hyssop together, by the metzora: "and they shall take for the one to be purified" cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson thread. If so, Shlomo spoke and explained why we take specifically the tall cedar and the lowly hyssop.
And likewise "about the beast and about the bird": What did the latter see fit to be rendered fit for eating through slaughter of one siman, the bird, and the former through two simanim, the beast. The two simanim are the windpipe and the gullet, and in a beast the majority of both simanim is required, whereas in a bird the majority of one of them suffices. "And about the creeping things and about the fish": the creeping things here are the grasshoppers, and both of them, the grasshoppers and the fish, do not require slaughter at all, one gathers them and they are fit to be eaten without slaughter. This is according to the derash of the verse.
And there is a midrash that says: "He spoke about the trees" - two men came before him for judgment, this one saying the tree is mine and that one saying the tree is mine, what would Shlomo do? He would ask the tree: whose are you? And it would say: I belong to so and so. So we see that he knew how to speak with the tree.
"From the cedar" - they said: when he built the Beit HaMikdash, he went and stood over the cedars and said to them: any of you that has a grave hidden beneath it, let it say so, so that they would not take it. And the cedars would bow down and make known in which of them there was a grave.
"To the hyssop that grows out of the wall" - and when did he speak with the hyssop? Chazal say: when Shlomo completed the building of the Beit HaMikdash, he overlaid all of it with gold except for one of the doors. On the day of the dedication of the Beit HaMikdash, Shlomo came and found hyssop that had grown out of the wall, and he was alarmed. For the hyssop symbolized, as it were, that this House was not on the same level and holiness that he thought it would have, since already the hyssops of the wall had sprouted in it, and it hinted that the House was destined to be destroyed. He said to it: who brought you here? It said to him: I came with permission. He said to it: even so, enter and go, so as not to break the heart of Israel. And it entered on its own. He said: Israel will see this and understand that there is in this a sign and an ill omen, and therefore he told it to enter so as not to break their hearts on the day of the joy of the Beit HaMikdash.
"About the beast" - Chazal say: Shlomo decreed that no ox that bore a yoke should come to his feast. An ox upon which a yoke had been placed would not come up onto the table of kings. And why? An ox that labored, instead of a soft and good steak you eat something muscly and tough, and this is not fitting for the table of Shlomo HaMelech. Therefore they would bring up fattened oxen and pasture oxen, ones that had been fattened or that had been all day in the pasture, and not ones that had labored. Once they caught two oxen that bore yokes to slaughter them, and they began to bellow. Shlomo said to them: the Holy One, blessed be He, created you only for this. As it were, he understood that they were bellowing over the fact that they were going to slaughter, like the incident with Rabbeinu HaKadosh who said to the calf: "Go, for you were created for this." The oxen said to him: our master, we know, but we bore a yoke, and we are not worthy to come up onto your table. Immediately they separated them from their hands and they went off to the field, and they released them.
"About the bird" - this is the hoopoe that brought the shamir to the Mikdash, and which he sent to the Queen of Sheba. The hoopoe is the one that brought the shamir, and this is "He spoke about the bird," that he asked the bird to bring the shamir. And the shamir is the worm with which they cut the stones. "About the creeping things" - this was a worm that fashions the pearls. They had a special worm that made the pearls, they did not need laser cutting, they had a worm that did the work. "And about the fish" - they said: once they caught fish for Shlomo's feast, and they were crying out before him. Not necessarily that they made a sound, and it may well be that he saw it in their movement, which was a frantic movement, and from this he understood that they were in fear and alarm. He said to them: does this help your purpose? They said to him: we are pregnant. Immediately he commanded and they cast them back into the water. And likewise they expounded: "the cedar that is in Lebanon" - this is the Beit HaMikdash, "and the hyssop that grows out of the wall" - the Beit HaMikdash, as we explained.
The tale of the pigeon and the dove: about a person who loves to make an impression
There is a famous tale that is brought about a pigeon and a dove who one day were in Shlomo's courtyard. The pigeon said to his dove, and he was a newlywed: do you see this palace of Shlomo? I get up, peck at the walls, and dismantle the whole thing. And she flaps her wings at him as though seized with admiration. Shlomo HaMelech hears this, suddenly a head peeks out from the palace, and who is eavesdropping on their conversation? Shlomo HaMelech. Shlomo makes him a sign with his hand to come to him. He is trembling all over, arrives and enters the king's palace. Shlomo said to him: what are these things I heard that you are saying? Can you really dismantle my palace? He said to him: no, no, that is only to make an impression on my wife, may she live, and had I wanted to, I could have done it in one blow, except that I have mercy on it. He said to him: fine, just do not talk nonsense from now on, and he released him. The pigeon returned to his dove, and she asked him: what did Shlomo HaMelech say to you? He said to her: he begged me not to carry out what I said.
This midrash comes by way of a parable about the character of the man, whose way it is to make much of himself and say things in order to make an impression, and who loves to boast a great deal. And as the Gemara brings about Rabbi Abahu: his interpreter was the one who was supposed to raise his voice and say aloud what the rabbi whispered quietly, and for this role one needs mainly a strong throat and nothing more than that. Once Rabbi Abahu's wife heard the wife of the interpreter, who came and said to her: my husband said that he really does not need your husband to whisper to him, he can lecture on his own, but out of respect for him he, as it were, bends toward Rabbi Abahu, hears what he has to say, and stands and says it aloud. His wife was very hurt: is this how he lowers the honor of the rabbi? She went and told Rabbi Abahu. Rabbi Abahu said to her: what do you care that he makes an impression on his wife? What do you care that he tells his wife that he is able and capable? May he have good health, and I do not mind. And we see from here something about the character of a person.
In summary:
The chapter lays out before us Shlomo's greatness in two spheres: kingship and abundance on one side, and wisdom on the other. The immense abundance of his table was not extravagance but a necessity, for a king's table grows in proportion to the size of his kingdom, and sixty thousand men depended upon it. The peace he enjoyed on all sides stemmed precisely from the immense power he never needed to use, yet in that very fact lay a point of weakness: idle horses with no horsemen to ride them, for which he was taken to task under "he shall not multiply horses for himself." And above all: Shlomo's wisdom, which was a divine wisdom moving from the earlier to the later and not a human wisdom subject to error, and which also had a boundary, like the sand of the sea, that held him back from breaking through the limits into which those with absolute rule tend to fall. And of all those books and studies he composed in the wisdom of nature, almost nothing has remained in our hands, for many books were lost to Israel in their exile.